Um estudo inicial sobre efeitos de um dispositivo terapêutico: oficina de cozinha – na clínica fonoaudiológica

Abstract

Introduction: Recent studies concerning children’s phonoaudiological clinic point to a systematic co-occurrence of language and feeding problems in young children. Thus, a new possibility for phonoaudiological work concerning language delay is the creation of a “therapeutic device”, such as the cooking workshop, which is a group intervention that takes place by introducing feeding scenes and serving as a symbolic bridge, since feeding is understood as a vital practice of speech in the sense that it is a privileged subjectification scene for children. This research aimed at making an initial verification of that efficacy, since it shall go back to symbolic and inaugural scenes where infants shall be able to fit themselves in and shift through language with another style that differs from the one that remains attached to symptoms in a certain way. Methodology: Six children of up to five years of age who were in the waiting line at the DERDIC were chosen and underwent the application of a protocol – PROC – in order to define their communicative-linguistic profiles before beginning the treatment. The phonoaudiological service comprised one-hour weekly sessions for three children, which were interchanged between the individual phonoaudiological treatment and the cooking workshop. The other three children were not submitted to the therapeutic cooking workshop device. The protocol was reapplied after four months by aiming at identifying and including possible differences between groups. Results: Children in the group whose treatment involved the cooking workshop showed a more outstanding development than the others. The biggest difference had to do with the organization of discourse, which shows a more structured movement in those children towards speech. In a lesser variation, children also showed better vocabulary and articulative production development. Children who lacked speaking abilities began talking in a more accelerated rhythm. Ultimately, all of them had a more satisfactory communicative-linguistic development than the others. Conclusion: The therapeutic device at hand generates positive effects when treating children with language delay. It is more important to note children’s shift towards other structural positions rather than the increase in the use of certain linguistic categories. This is an essential shift towards speech. It is herein that this device shows its full feasibility and efficacy.